More than 1,100 New Taipei City residents have changed their names three times since regulations were eased nearly two years ago, with Korean-inspired names being the most popular, government data showed.
According to New Taipei City Civil Affairs Bureau, the law was amended on May 20, 2015, to allow people who feel their names sound vulgar or are excessively long or who need to do so due to special circumstances can change their names legally a maximum of three times.
Data from the bureau showed that 692 of the 1,142 people who changed their names three times were women, accounting for 60 percent of the total, while 164 people reverted to their birth names on the third switch.
Among those name-changers is Shen Chu-hsi (沈主席) of Sansia District (三峽).
Shen said he chose the name chu hsi (chairperson) because he thought it would be easier to confer the title on himself instead of waiting for others to give it to him.
“Now I can have this title for the rest of my life,” Shen said.
A Sindian District (新店) resident said he chose a name that is phonetically similar to his late mother’s name, because he wanted to honor her, as she had worked so hard to raise him as a single parent.
A man surnamed Wang (王) from Tucheng District (土城) said he had originally changed his name in a bid to improve his fortunes, but after finding that his luck had worsened, he reverted to his birth name.
According to the bureau, among those who changed their names three times, a majority chose names influenced by South Korean pop culture, with tzu (瑜) — from Taiwanese K-pop singer Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜) — and yu (宥 or yoo in Korean) — a South Korean television drama series character’s name, Yoo-na (宥娜) — making up the top two.
Other popular characters are pei (沛), chen (蓁), chen (宸) and ning (甯), the bureau said, adding that the use of these characters represents a new trend.
“The common names of today are all taken from pop idols,” the bureau said.
The bureau added that 32.84 percent of those who changed their names three times were aged 31 to 40, while 28.46 percent were aged 41 to 50.
Most people change their names hoping to change their fortunes, New Taipei City Household Registration Service director Yan Yao-ming (顏耀明) said.
However, a number of them often go back to their birth name in the end, feeling that it suits them best, Yan said.
Bureau data showed that Librans topped the list of those who changed their names three times at 10.33 percent, followed by Sagittarians (9.54 percent), Capricorns (9.19 percent) and Pisceans (6.48 percent).
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